Aung La N Sang To Defend Middleweight World Title Against Unbeaten Foe In Yangon

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Aung La “The Burmese Python” N Sang’s second defense of the ONE Middleweight World Championship has been made official.

The two-division ONE World Champion will face Mohammad “O Lutador” Karaki at ONE: PURSUIT OF GREATNESS on Friday, 26 October, at the Thuwunna Indoor Stadium in Yangon, Myanmar.

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In doing so, he returns to the site of his last bout, and first World Title defense, which was an instant classic.

The 33-year-old Myanmar hero went toe-to-toe with Ken Hasegawa for almost the full five rounds in a back-and-forth war, before sealing victory with an incredible knockout.

Before that, in February, he defeated Brazil’s Alexandre Machado to be crowned the ONE Light Heavyweight World Champion. 

The challenger, Karaki, is an undefeated mixed martial arts star from Lebanon, who will come into the bout with a perfect record of 9-0.

“O Lutador” is considered one of the greatest mixed martial artists to come from the Middle East, and also formerly held the Desert Force light heavyweight and middleweight titles. 

In his last bout, the 27-year-old middleweight became the Phoenix Middleweight Champion thanks to a first-round armbar victory.

The win was the fifth submission of his professional campaign, on top of three knockouts. Only one of Karaki’s bouts has made it to the judges’ scorecards. 

Such is his reputation, he will make his ONE debut in a headlining spot with a World Championship on the line.

If Aung La N Sang can get past Karaki, a contest with Brandon “The Truth” Vera to defend his ONE Light Heavyweight World Title in Tokyo, Japan, could await him.

After all, ONE Championship CEO and Chairman Chatri Sityodtong had previously expressed his desire to make the World Champion versus World Champion super-bout.

Further bouts to fill a talent stacked bout card in Yangon will be made in the coming weeks.

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